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Prospective clients contact multiple practices because reaching one is unreliable and because finding a provider who is available, in network, and a good fit often requires several attempts. Advocacy organizations actively advise people to do this. Contacting several practices is expected behavior rather than an exception.
Is contacting multiple practices normal behavior for people seeking care?
Contacting multiple practices is standard guidance from national advocacy organizations. The National Alliance on Mental Illness advises people seeking care to make an appointment even when told the wait will be long, then call the second and third numbers on their list, and cancel the first appointment if someone can be seen sooner.
That guidance is a rational response to conditions in the field. Someone following it will have three or more practices in play at once, and the practice that reaches them first with an available appointment has a structural advantage over the practices that reach them second and third.
For a practice, the implication is that a prospective client’s first contact is rarely exclusive, and rarely patient.
Why does reaching a single practice so often fail?
Reaching a single practice fails often enough that people build redundancy into their search. The 2026 secret shopper survey published in The American Journal of Managed Care verified mental health counselor listings in Pennsylvania Marketplace plans and found that 65.2 percent carried at least one inaccuracy, with an incorrect phone number the most common problem at 56.6 percent. Appointments were available with only 14.9 percent of listed providers, at an average of 33.2 days out.
A 2024 JAMA study of psychiatric appointment access across four large US cities found that only 18 percent of listed clinicians were reachable, accepted the plan, and could offer an appointment.
Someone calling one number at a time in that environment will usually need several attempts before reaching a person who can help.
What decides which practice a person chooses?
Two factors decide it in most cases: which practice reaches the person first, and whether that contact felt like the beginning of help rather than an information exchange.
Availability is the more visible factor. A practice that answers the phone and offers an appointment within a reasonable window will frequently win over a practice with stronger credentials and a slower response, because response speed on a new inquiry determines which practice is in the conversation at all.
The second factor separates practices that reach the person in a similar timeframe. When someone is comparing two or three options, the differentiator is how the conversation felt. Credentials and specialties have usually been reviewed before the call. What has not been evaluated yet is whether this particular practice seems likely to understand the situation.
What this page does not cover
This page describes care-seeking behavior at the point of first contact and what practices can observe about it. It does not address clinical fit, treatment matching, or how a person should evaluate whether a provider is right for their needs, which are decisions for the individual and their clinicians. It does not cover insurance network rules, payer requirements, or the regulatory standards governing provider directory accuracy. The research cited examines directory accuracy and appointment availability, not the quality of care delivered.
Frequently asked questions
How many practices does a person typically contact?
There is no reliable national figure. What is documented is that a large share of listed providers cannot be reached on a first attempt, and that advocacy organizations advise contacting several. Practices should assume a prospective client has other calls in progress.
Does a strong reputation offset a slow response?
Not reliably. Reputation and credentials generally get evaluated before the person picks up the phone. Once the calling begins, availability and the quality of the contact carry more weight than the comparison that led to the call.
Should a practice follow up with someone who did not book?
A single follow-up is reasonable where the person consented to contact and no appointment was scheduled. Follow-up practices should be documented and consistent, and should respect any request not to be contacted again.
This article is part of a larger conversation about why the first phone call decides the return on a practice’s marketing budget.